IV

A week and a half had gone by and Buffy was no closer to discovering the whereabouts of the missing girls. Worse than that, two others had gone missing. That made five now. She didn’t need the blood of more girls on her hands.

She had gone to both of the night clubs in town, alternating between the two of them every night, hoping to catch the kidnapper in action. It was surprising to find vampires there most nights, since they'd become a rare breed in Santa Lucia since her arrival. They were far too easy for her to sense and just as easy to dust. The town had been crawling with them when she'd first arrived. These days, they barely survived long enough to feed, let alone turn anyone. The only vampires she'd discovered in the last two years had been out-of-towners passing through to L.A. or Vegas.

From what she'd gathered, the vampires currently in town were all from L.A. Every night discover a few and slay them with ease, only to find more the following night. It was easy work, and in some ways pleasantly reminiscent of Sunnydale, when her world had revolved around fashionable clothes, slaying, and hanging out at the Bronze. But her trips down memory lane were getting her no closer to discovering the demon that might have kidnapped the girls.

Propping her chin up with one hand, she absently tapped her fingers on the kitchen island with the other. She'd barely touched her club sandwich and her Coke was starting to lose it's fizz, when she was startled out of her daze by the telephone. Walking over to her coat on the kitchen wall hook, she dug through her pocket for her cell.

"Hello?"

"Buff!" Xander exclaimed. "Lady of Buffonia, how's it hanging? Uh, actually, I guess it's all hangin' pretty good in your case, what with the lack of ageing and drooping and-"

"Xander!" Dawn scolded in the background.

"What? I... It was just a..."

"Hey Xan," Buffy giggled. In forty years, two things hadn't changed: Buffy's body and Xander's foot-in-mouth disease. "How are the kids?"

"Adult-shaped, strangely. And also good." Away from the phone, Xander shouted, "Dawnie, can I share?" Returning to Buffy, "Well it's my news as much as Dawn's so I w-"

"Buffy?" Dawn interrupted. "Oh my god, guess what? No! Don't guess, because I want to tell you. Joycie and Simon are getting married!"

"Oh my gosh, Dawnie, that's fabulous!"

"I know. Finally!"

"When did he propose?"

"Just today, and in classic Watcher-fashion."

"What, did he turn all Mr. Collins and give some long-winded explanation about the mutual benefits of matrimony or something?"

"No, much better than that. He wrote the proposal in Sumerian on a piece of parchment and slipped it in a book she'd been translating."

"Wow."

"Romantic, no?"

"Very, very. So where is she? Put her on!" All thoughts of missing girls had fled Buffy's mind.

"She's out partying with the girls - an early 'hen's night' or a 'prelude to it' - something like that. She said she'd call you in the morning but gave us the go ahead to tell you tonight."

Buffy willed away the water building in her eyes and smiled brightly into space. "So, when's the wedding?"

"Some time in August, when it'll be as sunny and warm as possible in London. So, that gives us only four months to plan."

"Okay. So, how can I help? I want to be a part of this, Dawnie." Buffy was suddenly feeling a million miles away from what mattered.

"I can email you the various choices of things - you know, color schemes, bridesmaid dresses, menus and stuff. We're here for another few weeks now to help plan, but then we'll both be out of the loop after that. She doesn't want me hovering too long. The most important things you can do otherwise though, are to find a killer dress, and prevent any and all apocalypses from interfering on the day."

"Gee, there's a big load of responsibility to just drop in my lap," Buffy replied with laughter.

"Eh, you'll live."

"Funny, in a very not kind of way." But Buffy hadn't stopped smiling.

"So, I hate to shift topic to less joyful matters, but have you had any trouble lately with more Dragvloks or other Big Bads?"

It was sweet how Dawn never stopped being concerned, even though she knew Buffy was hard to kill.

"Nope on the Dragvloks. Just a mystery baddie in Santa Lucia." In a guilt-ridden tone, she added, "...and five missing girls".

"Hm."

"Oh! And vamps," Buffy remembered. "A steady stream of them have poured into town recently. Easy kills, though."

"Sounds related."

"Does it? Hm... I suppose it does when I say it like that. See? That's why I miss you. So, what, you think I should question the vamps?"

"Duh."

Buffy rolled her eyes, which was pointless without an audience. She was an idiot sometimes. Of course she should question the vamps.

"Alright. I'll do that. Pity I don't have a Willy."

"A what?" Dawn asked with a giggle.

"Dawn! A Willy, as in Willy the Snitch from Sunnydale! Remember? I could've beaten up a Willy for information."

"Yeah, because beating up humans is better than beating up vamps."

"Yikes, you make it sound so unseemly. Willy was a bad guy, you know."

"Of sorts. Anyway, the other kind of willy isn't bad..." Dawn joked.

"Sure, until it shrinks, wrinkles and starts dribbling when the guy turns seventy."

"Ugh!" Dawn laughed. "I won't tell Xander you said that. He lives in fear of that day."

"He shouldn't." Quieter, she added, "You'll still love him."

"Buffy, I know I said it then, but I'm sorry things didn't work out with Angel."

"Oh, I'm not. I'm just sorry that I thought they would one day."

Dawn remained quiet, as if waiting for Buffy to elaborate.

Buffy leaned against the kitchen wall. "You know, I spent all of high school and a good bit after pining for him, which was fine. First love and all that. But it's not like I spent any of the years after that thinking about him much. There was Slayer stuff to worry about. But... I did sort of keep him in my heart as an option, you know?"

"Yeah."

"But we barely spoke over the years, except when we needed intel from him to help the L.A. Slayers. And then, Willow usually dealt with him. Or Andrew. The U.S. was never my territory - well, since Sunnydale."

"The battlefield's gotten a lot bigger since Sunnydale."

"Yeah. And there's a lot more players." Buffy smiled slightly. "It's funny, really, thinking back. He used to be the go-to-guy back in the old days - or at least, the pop-up-out-of-nowhere with news of impending doom guy. Remember? Then he was CEO of Evil Lawyers, Incorporated, before he crawled out of the rubble of that disaster."

"Well, I think it's better for his never-ending redemption that he's a bit player now, Buffy. It's good for his ego too."

"Maybe... But, yeah, so when I came back to L.A., thinking I'd be a bit player too for a while, and -"

"Buffy, you're hardly that."

"You know what I mean. So when I came back and he was here... and I was alone... and we were both still young - so to speak - after all these years... And... I don't know. I guess I was just hoping that the love was as strong as it had felt when I was fifteen."

"And it wasn't."

"I guess everything that happens when you're fifteen feels monumental."

"Uh, talking to the Key here. I think what happened to me at fifteen was monumental."

"Well okay, I'll give you that," Buffy smiled. "Anyway, Angel and I gave it the old college try."

"You dropped out of college, Buffy."

"Exactly. Three months was enough."

"Of college?"

"Of Angel," Buffy deadpanned.

"Ouch."

"No ouchies here," Buffy laughed. "But yeah, I don't know if he's over it."

"Buffy, it's been like five years."

"Yeah, well, I guess that's nothing when you're immortal."

"True. Spike had loved Drusilla for over a century."

Several seconds passed.

"Buffy?"

"Yeah... Um... I'm here," she muttered weakly. "Sorry. I guess I hadn't heard his name spoken for... well, years. You surprised me, is all."

"Sorry."

Buffy regained her composure. "Don't be silly. I'm sorry we haven't spoken of him more. He died a hero, Dawnie. He died for us."

"No, Buffy. He died for you. But yeah, he died a hero, too."

Several seconds passed again.

"Buffy?"

"Yeah, still here." In a brighter voice, she added, "Hey, you guys get some sleep. It's late. Tell Joycie I'll expect a call from her tomorrow."

"Aye, aye, Sergeant Summers."

"Don't call me that."

"Sonny does," Dawn taunted.

Buffy wasn't biting. "Bye, Dawnie. I love you."

"Love you, too."

"And congratulations to you and Xander."

"Right back at ya. She's yours too, you know."

"Yeah." But she wasn't, really.

* * *

Dawn's call had left her mildly unsettled, but helped her refocus her energy towards finding the missing girls. She finished her sandwich with a newfound hunger, opted for a more practical outfit over clubbing clothes, and threw her weapons sack over her shoulder before locking the door behind her.

The streets of Santa Lucia were eerily quiet. It was still fairly early in the evening, so the more oblivious residents in town had not yet ventured out to visit its clubs and cafes, or to take perilous moonlit walks through its parks. That meant very little bait. Buffy would have to rely on her Slayer sense to detect any vampires in the area. Vamps were more likely to kill the girls than kidnap them, but Dawn was probably right about a connection.


She headed to Lakeview Cemetery, Santa Lucia’s most beautiful, where most residents preferred to bury their dead. It had a natural lake at its centre that attracted all manner of wildlife - rendering it a place of serenity and beauty at any time of day, and a popular place to spend hours in contemplation. She figured it as likely a place as any to find the latest vamps in town before the clubs opened.

She didn’t have to wait long before she sensed a group of vampires headed her way.

There were five of them walking towards her general direction. Dressed in silk shirts and pleated slacks, they looked like they were already ready for a suckfest at the Loft, the more upscale of the two clubs. Buffy barely needed her Slayer sense to detect them. A waft of five different colognes hit her nose the next moment and she had to fight the overwhelming urge to sneeze.

Laying the scythe down silently, she reached for her stakes. She never left home these days without three: one at her back and one in each boot. At her left hip she kept her bowie knife – a sweet piece of weaponry she had picked up in Tasmania years ago.

“Hold up, fellas,” said a black-haired one, as he lifted his right hand. He was the suavest-looking of the bunch, tall with broad shoulders and a large jaw. Buffy thought about cracking it.

“What’s up Marco?” Asked a stout brunette.

“I smell an appetizer,” Marco replied, his lips forming a lopsided grin.

“And I can hear its little heart beat too,” giggled a sandy-haired one.

Already bored with their pathetic attempts at stoking fear, Buffy decided to skip the pleasantries and bring on the pain. As she stepped out from behind a tree to face the pack, two stakes were already leaving each hand and piercing the hearts of the chattier sidekicks.

Shocked by the attack and distracted by the dust of their friends, the two that had been silent were too slow to react. Recovering her scythe from the ground, Buffy rushed into attack, beheading one and staking the other with the pointy end of the scythe in one swoop.

That left Marco, who immediately shifted into game face with a roar. He came at her with two hands as if to grab her, but Buffy countered by flinging his arms aside to deliver a head butt that rendered him momentarily dazed. She followed it with a right hook to his jaw and couldn’t help the glee she felt when she heard it crack. After pummeling his middle for a few punches, she drove the heel of her boot into his kneecap, which pitched him face forward into the dirt. Kicking him over so she that could see his face, she decided now was a good time to talk.

“Hey Marco. I’m Buffy.” There was no amusement in her voice.

“Buf -?”

“Shut up.” The name obviously scared him, which was kind of stupid, since he had already gotten his ass kicked. “It’s my turn to talk. It’ll be your turn when I’ve asked my questions. Got it?”

He nodded.

“Good. Where were you headed?”

“The Loft,” he spit out.

“Figured as much. More importantly, where were you coming from?”

Marco paused before answering. “L.A.”

That earned him a devastating punch into the solar plexus.

“Try again.”

"I’m telling the truth, you bitch!”

Buffy pressed the heel of her boot into his face, which threatened to break his nose, before he groaned under the pain.

“Okay, okay! Hillside! We were staying in Hillside!” She didn’t let up on her boot. After all, this was working for her.

“That’s a big neighbourhood, Marco.”

“Please!” He managed to get out, but to no avail. Buffy could feel the bones of his nose about to yield.

“Alright, alright! Fuller Street!” She let up a bit on his face.

“Interesting.” There was an abandoned house she was curious about on Fuller Street. She couldn’t believe her luck.

Marco tried to reclaim the advantage before she made him say more. Reaching out swiftly, he yanked her other foot out from under her, causing her to join him in the dirt. Buffy countered instantly with a kick to his spleen, before she whipped her knife out of it's holster and drove it deep into his heart.

“Agh!” He was coughing up blood now.

She sighed. She was hardly surprised he’d try something; but it was pretty stupid of him. He was going to die. He had to know it. This way he was just making it more painful.

She continued her interrogation.

“Where abouts on Fuller Street Marco? Actually, scratch that. Enough twenty questions. Just give me an address, a genus, a species and numbers. And don’t leave out the victims. This might end better for you if you spill everything now.”

She watched as he considered his options, before deciding he had none. “Lumbricai” he relented. “Lumbricai species. There’s only one of them, though. I don’t know the genus!”

Stifling a smile, Buffy pressed him for more. “Okay. One Lumbricai. Check. Care to tell me what the hell that is?”

“Worm demon” he sputtered. “Human-demon hybrid. They invade human hosts and extend from the human skull to feed on other humans.”

Buffy was suddenly assaulted by a disturbing memory. It couldn’t be.

“Uh…these lumber cry -"

"Lumbricai."

"Whatever. They don’t, like... spew saliva that paralyzes you, do they?”

Marco nodded a yes.

“Whoa.” It was the penis lady from the Doublemeat. Or a cousin anyway. How weird was that? Buffy refocused. “You’re forgetting something Marco. Address? Victims?”

“Yeah. She’s got five girls in that abandoned house on Fuller Street. You know, the red house with the boarded windows. They’re okay though! Just paralyzed. They’re not for her to eat, I swear! They’re hosts for her young, and the young haven’t hatched yet!”

“Ew!” Buffy scrunched up her face at the thought. “When do they hatch then?” She drove the knife in deeper for good measure.

“Agh! Day after tomorrow. She’s got eight young, and we were hired to get her three more. The previous vamps she hired got dusted. We were gonna get paid big time to deliver her the final three.”

Buffy had heard enough. The creep had been kidnapping girls to deliver to a penis monster who wanted to impregnate them. The conversation was over. She ripped the knife out of the vampire’s heart and replaced it with a stake.

Dusting off her hands and collecting her weapons, Buffy headed home. This called for a Ripley moment.

She was gonna need more supplies.